Following last year’s historic regional drought, rains since late last year have refilled the 14,000-acre lake.

Not only has the water returned but boaters and anglers have too.

“It’s nice and clear and not windy and the water levels are up, thank goodness,” said Ben Graham of Mount Pleasant of the lake’s conditions on a recent weekday.

Graham was putting in his fishing boat at the Ebenezer Boat Ramp so he could meet a friend and bow fish for carp. About a dozen trucks and boat trailers dotted the parking lot. The water bobbed the pier that extends past where the ramp now disappears into the water. Last fall, the water did not reach the ramp.

Graham said he likes to get out in his boat a “couple of times a week” but was not able to often last year.

“The lakes were about dry,” Graham said. “It was dangerous to be out on the water. There were rocks sticking up. The fishing wasn’t very good.”

Craig Shoe, lake operations manager at Jordan Lake for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, agreed with Graham’s assessment about the danger. Last year’s low water made access to the lake and “the danger factor of running aground higher,” Shoe said.

“I think it definitely cut down on the [recreational] use late in the season,” Shoe said.

Shoe said the corps plans to keep the lake’s level a little above normal during the upcoming dry part of the year for “a little cushion of water.” As of 8 a.m. Friday, the pool level of the lake stood at 217.15 feet.

That’s a far cry above the low-water mark of 210.21 feet on Oct. 23. The top of the conservation pool — the “normal” elevation for the lake — is 216 feet.

Though the lake is back to normal, Chatham County, where the lake is located, is still listed by the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council as in a “moderate drought.”

Instead of expressing concern about low water, Shoe is more worried about other marine risks as the summer heats up.

“We’d like to see people leave the alcohol at home and wear those” personal-flotation devices when boating, Shoe said.

While water levels kept some people away from Jordan Lake last year, the elevation there compared to some other area lakes actually attracted some people.

Mike Kearney of Durham said he fishes “a couple of times a week” at the Bells Church Public Fishing Area.

His primary piscine prey are crappie and bluegill.

Kearney said his normal fishing holes were Lake Michie and Little River in northern Durham County.

“Because of the drought up there [those waters] were pretty low last year,” Kearney said as he casted and reeled. “They were better here because because this lake didn’t suffer from the drought like Lake Michie and Little River because this is a bigger water source.”

Higher water in Jordan Lake has generally meant better fishing for Kearney.

“I haven’t had much luck today,” Kearney said. “I’ve caught as many as 20 bluegill out here. But that’s fishing — some days you catch ’em, some days you don’t.”